Shakarian 100 Theme Challenge
by Kasena
Summary: In this story we shall be viewing the budding relationship of Garrus Vakarian and Commander Shepard while attempting to stick to a theme identified prior to the making of this. It WILL be in Chronological order! Kasena, out! On Hiatus!
1. Introduction

Introduction

As I walked into the tower and up the steps, I could hear voices arguing. I continued on to see it was two turians. I would've walked right past them were it not for something one of them had said, "Saren's hiding something! Give me more time! Stall them!" Raising my eyebrow, I waited until the second turian dismissed himself. The first -Garrus, I think he had been called- turned toward me. "Commander Shepard, Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation against Saren." I heard a bit of spite as he said 'was.' I guess I would've been spiteful too, had I been shot down like he was.

Giving him a questioning look, I asked, "Who were you just talking to?"

He turned his head and seemed to glare in the direction the turian had gone off to. "That was Executor Pallin. Head of Citadel Security, my boss. He'll be presenting my findings on Saren to the Council."

Puzzled as to why a turian would want to take down one of their own kind, I partially questioned, partially remarked, "Sounds like you really wanna bring him down."

He crosses his arms and seems to turn a bit bitter. "I don't trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. But he's a spectre, everything he touches is classified. I can't find any hard evidence."

I was about to continue my line of questioning when Kaiden, a bit too anxiously, interrupted. "I think the Council's ready for us, Commander."

As I turned away to go meet with them, Vakarian muttered, "Good luck Shepard, maybe they'll _listen_ to you."

I stood in front of the Clinic office for a moment thinking. _I was told I could find Vakarian here. What did he get into that made him go to a clinic?_ I decided to find out, and opened the door. In the near-center of the room was a type of half-wall, and just beyond it I could see Dr. Michel, and some mercs. To my left I saw Vakarian sneaking to the side with a gun, obvious what he was gonna go. Then I picked up on the conversation.

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" The red-head desperately pleaded in a thick French accent.

"That was smart, Doc. Now if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or-" The mercenary threatening her stopped himself upon seeing me, then quickly put his arm around Michel's neck, taking her hostage, and pointed his gun at me. "Who are you?!"

Raising my own gun, I tried to diffuse the situation, demanding they let her go. Before a shot could be fired between either parties, the sound of a gun beung shot went off, then the merc holding the doctor fell. She was smart enough to find somewhere safe to camp out, as Vakarian walked in, showing his was the gun fired. I could tell with the others that I fight would soon occur.

_A few minutes later..._

After the last enemy fell, I turned to the turian. His mandibles seemed to flare out into something resembling a smile. "Great timing, Shepard. Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

For some reason I could see red on the edge of my vision as I near shouted, "What were you thinking? You could've hit the hostage!"

My anger subsided as he bowed his head in an almost apologetic way. "There wasn't time to think! I just reacted. I didn't mean to- Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

She brushed her hair back as she replied. "No, I'm ok. Thanks to you. All of you."

Satisfied that there was no damage, I started my line of questioning. I slowly, gently started off. "I know those threatened you. But if you tell us who they work for, we can protect you."

She looked around and seemed hesitant before she finally took a deep breath and answered. "They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian."

My eyebrow rose suspiciously. I looked to Garrus who seemed to be thinking the same thing I was, so I said it out loud. "What quarian?"

Anxious, the doctor started telling her story. "A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She...She'd been shot, but she wouldn't tell me why, or by who. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide."

The question immediately came to me as my curiosity piqued. "Where is she now?"

Almost ashamed, the doctor told me, "I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

Surprisingly, the next comment was made by Garrus. "Not anymore. Now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it."

Incredulously, the doctor questioned, "Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That's stupid, even for him! Saren must have made him quite the offer." Totally lost, I nodded my head, pretending I understood completely.

"That quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."

All the pieces finally clicked into place as I stated, "She must have something that proves he's a traitor." Turning back to Dr. Michel, I asked her, "Did the quarian mention anything about Saren? Or the Geth?"

A look of realization passed over her features, "She did! The information she was going to trade. She said it had something to do with the Geth."

The turian investigator turned eagerly towards me, "She must be able to link Saren to the Geth. There's no way the Council can ignore this!"

_Unless they did_... I thought, but there was no harm in going after that information. I looked to Kaiden and Ashley behind me, "Time we paid Fist a visit."

Surprisingly, before I left the turian seemed to ask me, "This is your show Shepard. But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"

A true skeptic at heart, I questioned his motives. "You're a turian. Why do _you_ want to bring him down?"

As soon as the question was asked, I could see the fire in his eyes. "I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation. But I knew what was really going on. Saren is a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people."

_Ah, honor, justice, retribution, that sort of thing. I guess I remember hearing about turians principles about honor and duty and valor._ I nodded with a slight smile on my face. "Welcome aboard, Garrus." _Hm, this could turn out to be quite interesting, having a turian on a human ship._ I shook his hand, like sealing a deal, and it was official. Garrus Vakarian was part of the Normandy crew.

* * *

_**AN:** Hey guys thanks for reading my first Mass Effect fanfiction! If there are any grammatical or spelling errors, I'm sorry, I didn't have a spell/grammar checker, but I hope you enjoyed anyway! Ok, Kasena out!_


	2. Love

Love

_Jeez, can Kaidan talk! He goes on, and on ,and on, about some high school crush! What was that biotic's name anyway? Rachel? Ramona? Raquel? Ah, I'll remember it later. How could he think he was in love at that age? Ah, good times._ I began to reminisce fondly over my Mindoir memories. Before the attack, I had been on my way to my date with Keith, the school's jock. I had thought that my life couldn't get more perfect and that I would grow old with the boy I thought I loved. Finally, the elevator stopped on the bottom floor. _Why is it an elevator? Why can't they have stairs?_ Walking over to the Mako, I leaned against the side _not_ facing the two other crew members down here and let out a sigh. "Man, does Kaidan need a girlfriend!"

"Did you say something, Commander?" A voice called out from under the car.

Startled, I gave a slight yelp and jumped away, only to see the increasingly familiar turian slide out from underneath and stand up. "Christ, don't scare me like that, Garrus! Almost gave me a heart attack."

He chuckled as I glared at him. "Sorry about that, Shepard. Now what was it you were saying about 'Kaidan needs a girlfriend?'" I don't know how, but I could just tell those mandibles of his were grinning.

Still glaring I explained. "He needs one 'cause he won't stop talking about some high school girl who's probably forgotten him by now! He thought he was in _love_ with the poor girl when he was only 18." I gave out a groan over how ridiculous it all was.

Garrus raised an eyeb- eyeplate? Anyway, he did that then asked, "You think 18 is young? If you don't mind my asking, how slowly do humans mature, Shepard? 'Cause in turian culture you're considered an adult at 15, when you're able to go into the military."

I sighed yet again at his question, regretting having to explain biology to him. "Okay, the short version is: You're a baby 'til you hit 2, child 'til 13, adolecent 'til 18, young adult 'til about 35 through 40, and a senior once you're about 70."

The turian nodded, realizing what I was saying. "Oh, I get it. Yeah, I had a girl at 15. I thought she was gonna be the one. Once we got shipped off to different ships, we promised to stay in contact. We messaged each other about every day, then increasingly less frequently until we finally just, either lost contact, or didn't remember the other, or something like that." He paused, waiting for my response. "So, did 'The Great Commander Shepard' ever have someone she felt like that about?"

I hesitated before answering. "I, uh, no. There, uh, wasn't anyone I felt like that about." I didn't meet his eyes, knowing for a fact that I was lying through my teeth. I knew he knew, but thankfully he decided to let it go.

"I guess then you wouldn't know what it feels like. Just trust me when I say that when you meet the right person you'll know. I say trust me, 'cause that's what dad told me when I met that girl. Afterwards, I realized he was right. _Again_."

I chuckled under my breath, "Well, you can always count on family for that. Telling you you're making the wrong decisions, then helping you out when it's too late to realize it." I thought back to my life on Mindoir, how I got my first broken heart, and how my parents were right there at my side to help me out afterwards. Stretching, I started to rise from my still leaning position. "Well, thanks for the chat, Garrus. I really needed someone to vent to."

He responded with a grin of his own. "No problem, Shepard. Oh, and please don't try to be as rough on the Mako, for two reasons. One, because you do _not_ want to see a nauseous turian, and two, because I have to be the one to make repairs afterwards." He laughed, which brought a small grin to my face.

"If I didn't know any better, Vakarian, I'd say you were in love with the _Mako_."

"Hopefully you would know by now that I'm not that fond of this deathtrap you call a car. I just want there to be less work for me. And even if I were, I'm not sure how well biology would co-operate. Though I may have to accept that challenge." He turned back to the car to finish the repairs I had most likely interrupted. After that, I turned to Ashley's station and walked up, ready to start a conversation with our resident Gunnery Chief.

**AN:** Hello again, I'm back. It would seem I'm posting this earlier than expected. Well, I was surprised with how many views I got just for my first chapter so here goes. And also, please welcome our editor, My Fluffy Scarf! This chapter may seem a bit shorter, but there is only so many ways you can talk about love whilst in the friend zone with no current plans to take it further than that. Hope you enjoyed anyone, don't forget to review!


	3. Light

Light

I woke up to a really bright light, and a voice that sounded British. "So, explain it to me again. _How_ did she manage to get burns like those?" I assumed they were talking about me. Silently groaning, I closed my eyes again, the light too harsh to have my eyes open too long. I heard a sigh, as if someone were getting ready to tell a really long story. I relaxed myself and listened, too curious for my own good.

Do these Geth ever stop coming? _I thought to myself. I looked through the scope of my rifle, finding another flashlight head to put a hole through. I pulled the trigger, and a second later, the body crumpled to the ground. _"Scoped and dropped!" _I shouted excitedly, unable to contain my enthusiam. I heard her chuckle under her breath and looked over at her. She was using her pistol, switching between bullets and biotics. I had taken up cover behind the wall. Wrex was out there somewhere, brutally smashing the circuits to sparking pieces._

_ That was when things went to hell. A Geth Colossus got dropped. Realizing the other two would switch their attention to the big guy, I realized that the best thing for me to do would be to pick off the little guys, one by one. The Troopers started dropping, but not nearly fast enough. Shepard was forced to switch her focus to the smaller Geth, turning her back on the Colossus. I kept killing them too, while Wrex blasted away at the Colossus. I checked its shields. _Damn it! _I thought to myself, realizing I'd have to help with the Colossus for a minute._

_ After its shields were finally down, I switched to the Troopers, who had seemed to be getting a leg up on Shepard. There were some just coming in, off to the side. I focused my scopes on them, dropping them before they could drop my crew. I had seen the shadow of something out of the corner of my eye: _More trying to sneak up on us. _So I looked over, and I saw it. It was a pulse beam, headed straight for Shepard. There was no chance of warning her in time, but I had to try. _"Shepard!" _She looked up at me, with this expression on her face. It looked like worry, and anxiety, and fear, and questioning all rolled up into one._

_ Before I could even point behind her, she was blasted forward. We couldn't just abandon the mission, so I applied some medi-gel to her, hoped for the best, and kept shooting._

The flang in his voice seemed to be strained after a certain point in the story. "I don't think Wrex even noticed she was down until the fight was over. Once it was, we picked her up and carried her back here."

_Well that explains why my back feels like it's on fire. _I thought to myself. It had also explained why the last thing I remembered besides the turian was a face full of dirt and a really bright purple-ish light. I heard the door open and close, and realized that while I was in thought, the turian had left the room. Dr. Chakwas walked over to me.

"Commander. How do you feel?" She asked the standard question, even though I was sure she already knew the answer to it.

"Like I've been to hell and back."

"Well, it's at the very least better than being dead. Now if you don't mind, I have to run a check-up, make sure you're still functioning properly after an electro-magnetic blast like that." She shined a flashlight into my eye and I immediately winced. She noticed, and frowned, motherly. "Well, maybe you'll learn to be a bit more aware of your surroundings. That could've been a lot worse, and you know it, Commander."

I sighed. _Got it. No more beams of energy._ "Of course, Chakwas. You're right, I should've been more aware of what was going on." Then she shined the damned light again. After a moment, she nodded, and declared I was free of the med bay.

**AN:** Hey guys, here's the next chapter. My first attempt at a fight scene. I know, it's pretty terrible, but It could've been worse. Thanks for all the views and those of you who are following, thank you SO much. Don't forget to review! Kasena, out!


	4. Dark

Dark

"Commander, I'm not sure I trust him." As she said that, I gave her a pointed look, referencing our earlier conversation. She quickly corrected herself, "What I mean is, it's like he's hiding something. Like, what kind of baggage is he carrying, what kind of secrets does he have, why is he even on this ship? I mean, wouldn't he want to be on the same side as Saren?"

I sighed, "Ash, I've talked to him about it, he doesn't trust or like Saren any more than we do. And as for 'baggage' and 'secrets,' well, everyone is entitled to keep some things to themselves. Although, it does seem like he's keeping me in the dark about something. Like he wants to ask me something, but isn't sure what." I turned to her, "Besides, didn't I say how I was sure we could trust him? I mean, he _has_ had quite a few opportunities to shoot us in the back."

She looked as though she was about to protest, but then seemed to resign from the idea, "I guess you're right, Skipper. I guess everyone _does_ have some secrets. I'm sure you've got quite a few, what with your reputation and all."

I thought back to the day of the Mindoir Raid. _I walk to the beach with a bit of a spring in my step. I made sure to be on time for my date. After all, punctuality impresses, or so Dad says. I get to the beach and lay out a towel. I lie down on it and look up at the stars as I wait. After a few minutes, I look out to the dark, almost black, ocean and see a reflection. It was colored red, and yellow, and orange. Then I hear the roar as I look behind me and see flames. I run back to the colony, but I was too late. Everyone and everything I loved, gone. My few possessions that are left are going up in flames as I think. I watch the flames, as the smoke mingles with the sky, creating a dark cloud of mourn and loss._

My eyes drifted for a moment, then come back to hers. "Yeah, maybe someday I'll tell you some of them." After that, Ashley started talking about her sisters and her family back home. It was a really fun conversation.

_They're talking about me?_ That was the first thought I could think of as I worked on his calibration settings. In my defense, turians had superior senses to most other species, so I couldn't exactly help listening in. _They really think I might be on the same side as Saren?_ I could hear my sub-harmonics trill with irritation. _Of course, cause humans can't trust us big bad turians. _Then I heard something that really surprised me. Shepard was actually defending me. It was completely unexpected, but welcome all the same. It was nice to know that not every human thought that we were the big monster predators of the galaxy.

_I suppose it is true I'm keeping stuff from them._ Just as soon as I thought it, Shepard mentioned people being entitled to secrets. It was very rare for people to take my side in nearly any subject. I figured they just did that to spite me. Now that someone trusted me, I felt like things might start looking up. That was when my omni-tool beeped. I was about to check it when he paused. "I'm sure you've got quite a few, what with your reputation and all." I had never thought about it that way. Never thought someone in such a high position could have secrets too. After a moment of pondering, I checked the notification, and a grim satisfaction sneaked its way into my grin.

_Garrus,_

_ We've got a lead on that Dr. Saleon. Goes by Dr. Heart now. Sending you the navpoint._

_ Edreon_

It looked like I would be telling Shepard one of my secrets. I waited for her to come over before pulling her out of the dark and telling her.

**AN:** Hey guys, sorry this one's even shorter, but don't worry! The next one should be longer, as I've already got a few ideas churning as to how I'm going to play that theme out. Glad you guys are liking the story enough to follow it! Don't forget to review. Kasena, out!


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